Is Billiards Considered a Sport?
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International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health 2017; 4(3): 248-251 P-ISSN: 2394-1685 E-ISSN: 2394-1693 Impact Factor (ISRA): 5.38 Is Billiards considered a sport? IJPESH 2017; 4(3): 248-251 © 2017 IJPESH www.kheljournal.com Mohammed Abou Elmagd Received: 15-03-2017 Accepted: 17-04-2017 Abstract Mohammed Abou Elmagd Understanding the differences between games and sports can be done when we can identify the two terms Sports Manager, Student Affairs, as two different words. A sport is a physical activity carried out under fixed set of rules, with competition Physical Activity Department, or self-enjoyment or a combination of both. A game is a recreational activity involving one or more Ras Al Khaimah Medical and players, defined by a goal that the players try to reach, and some set of rules to play it. Most of the people Health Sciences University, is confused between Sport and game because the word game has several meanings. Actually we can play RAK, United Arab Emirates. a game of sports, but we can't sport a game. Olympics they are called the OLYMPIC GAMES and all the competitions are in specific Sports. Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table surrounded by rubber cushions. Billiards is a sport, and you can play different games within the sport: eight- ball, nine- ball, three ball, one pocket and bank pool. Pocket Billiards has been declared a Sport by the Olympic Committee. Billiards category including pool, snooker and carom was presented in the 2005 World Games, held in Duisburg, Germany, and the 2006 Asian Games as a cue sports category. Thus, definitely billiards should be announced as a sport. Keywords: sport, game, cue sports, billiards, physical activity. 1. Introduction People often take game and sport as to be the same one. However, game and sport are different. Sport includes all forms of competitive physical activity or games which [1]. through casual or organized participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills [2] while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for audiences . Sport is generally recognized as system of activities which are based in physical flexibility or physical agility, with the largest main competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition [3]. A physical activity, Sport is carried out under a fixed set of rules. On the other hand a game is a structured form of play, usually assumed for enjoyment . [4] and sometimes used as an educational tool Sport is related to entertaining purpose, either for self-enjoyment or competition or for both. A game is also for entertaining activities and it involves one or more players played on the basis of a set of rules, a game is also defined as a goal that the players try to achieve. Sport is an activity or activities where the material skills of the sportsperson are observed. In a sport, it is the sportsperson or the individual who determines the outcome. Well, an individual’s talent does not determine a game. It is the entire performance of the players that decides the winner in a game [5]. A person participating in a sport is called as athlete or a sports person. A person who participates in a game is known as player. When a game relies on strategy, sport is based on individual performances and luck. In a sport, the athlete can take independent decisions, but a player cannot take such independent decisions in a game. A decision is taken at a game collectively among two or more players. Another difference between them is that the sport is based on physical energy and the game is based on mental strength. Sport is played with a view of competition in mind while game is played with a friendly attitude. One can come Correspondence Mohammed Abou Elmagd across more efficiency in sport than the game. In a sport, the athlete or sports person is Sports Manager, Student Affairs, expected to show good sportsmanship and also have high standards of conduct like respecting Physical Activity Department, the challengers and the officials. But in a game, an individual may not deliver such Ras Al Khaimah Medical and personality. In game, the performance of the whole team is taken into account. Sport is Health Sciences University, organized and competitive. It also requires commitment and fair play. RAK, United Arab Emirates. ~ 248 ~ International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health An athlete or a sports person always gain popularity and Revolution. In England, the game was developing into a very maintains a name for his skills. But in a game, it is not the popular activity for members of the gentry [11]. individual who gains popularity but it is the entire team that The main billiard game in Britain from about 1770 until the get a place. 1920’s was English Billiards, played with three balls and six Cue sports, also known as billiard sports [6, 7]. Are a wide pockets on a large rectangular table. The British billiard variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick tradition is carried on today primarily through the game of which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a snooker, a complex and colorful game combining offensive cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber cushions. and defensive aspects and played on the same equipment as Historically, the umbrella term was billiards. While that English Billiards but with 22 balls instead of three. The familiar name is still employed by some as a generic label for British appetite for snooker is approached only by the all such games. For example, in British and Australian American passion for baseball; it is possible to see a snooker English, "billiards" usually refers exclusively to the game of competition every day in Britain. The dominant American English billiards, while in American and Canadian English it billiard game until the 1870’s was American Four-Ball is sometimes used to refer to a particular game or class of Billiards, usually played on a large (11 or 12-foot), four- games, or to all cue games in general, depending upon dialect pocket table with four balls - two white and two red. It was a and context. direct extension English Billiards. Points were scored by pocketing balls, scratching the cue ball, or by making caroms There are three major subdivisions of games within cue on two or three balls. A "carom" is the act of hitting two sports: object balls with the cue ball in one stroke. With many balls, • Carom billiards, referring to games played on tables there were many different ways of scoring and it was possible without pockets, typically 10 feet in length, including to make up to 13 pints on a single shot. American Four-Ball balk line and straight rail, cushion caroms, three-cushion produced two offspring, both of which surpassed it in billiards, artistic billiards and four-ball. popularity by the 1870’s. One, simple caroms played with • Pool, covering numerous pocket billiards games three balls on a pocket less table, is something known as generally played on six-pocket tables of 7-, 8-, or 9-foot "Straight rail", the forerunner of all carom games. The other length, including among others eight-ball (the world's popular game was American Fifteen-Ball Pool, the most widely played cue sport), nine-ball (the dominant predecessor of modern pocket billiards. professional game), ten-ball, straight pool (the formerly Eight-Ball was invented shortly after 1900; Straight Pool dominant pro game), one-pocket, and bank pool. followed in 1910. Nine-Ball seems to have developed around • Snooker and English billiards, games played on a 1920. While the term "billiards" refers to all games played on billiards table with six pockets called a snooker table a billiard table, with or without pockets, some people take (which has dimensions just under 12 ft by 6 ft), that are billiards to mean carom games only and use pool for pocket classified totally separately from pool based on a separate games. Through the 1930’s, both pool and billiards, historical development, as well as a separate culture and particularly three-cushion billiards, shared the spotlight. From terminology that characterize their play. 1878 until 1956, pool and billiard championship tournaments were held almost annually, with one-on-one challenge 2. Game history matches filling the remaining months. At times, including All cue sports are generally considered to have developed into during the Civil War, billiard results received wider coverage indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball [8]. The word than war news. Players were so renowned that cigarette cards "billiard" may have developed from the French word billart or were issued featuring them. Pool went to war several times as billette, meaning "stick", in reference to the mace, an a popular recreation for the troops. Professional players implement similar to a golf club, which was the sign to the toured military posts giving exhibitions; some even worked in modern cue; the term's origin may have also been from the defense Industry. But the game had more trouble French bille, meaning "ball" [9]. The modern term "cue sports" emerging from World War II than it had getting into it. can be used to involve the ancestral mace games, and even the Returning soldiers were in a mood to buy houses and build modern cue less variants, such as finger billiards, for careers, and the charm of an afternoon spent at the pool table historical reasons.